This is a periodic blog feature I call “grace notes.” It occasionally captures my jottings of incidental gratitude. My hope is that this practice will make me (and you?) more aware of the constant flow of amazing good we are perpetually steeped in, which we are surrounded by all the time. It is here only asking to be noticed and amplified.

So now I am furthering my ongoing goal of appreciating such a continuous, overflowing abundance of random good. I’ve taken photographs of some of them with my iPhone, which you can see in this post.

So let’s start this gratitude list with:

• Our nephew (above) has just gotten engaged to someone we really like and can’t wait to welcome to the family.
• I recently sold two large paintings I did at my artist-in-residency in Maine in August, then I framed, delivered, and helped hang them on my way back to Maine in September. You can see them in situ in the photos below. They made me a delicious meal, which is shown as well.  A few days before that, someone I’d never met, who had laid a claim to my lobster trap painting that I did in plein air at the our retreat last June, came by to pick up the painting and take us to lunch. They were on their way back to Louisiana from a wedding in Boston. Three paintings in hands of gracious new buyers in one week is cause for gratitude!
• I’m so grateful for my awesome time recently in Maine, both on Monhegan Island and in Waterville to teach my Adventures in Abstraction class. Both were wonderful opportunities that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I’m so grateful everything went so well. Thank you especially to the fabulous PSME president for making this possible and for hosting me before, between, and after each event. (See her with her sweet husband below.) I’m grateful that after being constantly together for nine days we like each other more than ever! I was also grateful to go out with them to the wonderful Salt and Pepper Restaurant – see the swordfish dinner and zucchini noodle appetizer below, and that after meeting the chef there and discussing cooking, she’s become a blog reader. Also, I loved the revelatory Kickin’ Maple bagel at the terrific Sunrise Bagel shop in Waterville. Try either of these great spots if you are in the area.
• I’m grateful for all my husband’s fabulous produce: tomatoes, peppers, raspberries, and garlic especially. How marvelous it is to eat his fresh ingredients! I’m also grateful that the grass he’s planted recently is coming in nicely.
• I’m grateful to have seen our older (California) daughter in August and that she’ll be working from our house for a couple weeks in November. I’m grateful she’s thrilled with her new hair cut (photos below) after selling 17″ of her hair online.
• I’m grateful our younger daughter got over having Covid fairly quickly and that the timing of getting it in September didn’t throw her off her game too much. She just switched teaching her classes to zoom and didn’t miss a one. Unlike her sister, she’s growing her hair for that braided crown. We’ll get to have her here over Thanksgiving.
• I’m grateful both daughters are in close touch with us and a doing well.
• I’m grateful for all the flowers we’ve had this year and for all the great bouquets we’ve enjoyed.
• I’m grateful our church has a new soloist with a lovely voice and that the transition has been seamless.
• I’m grateful for lots of new painting ideas, and time to work on them. I’m also grateful for each and every one of my spiritual healing clients and for all the progress there.
• I’m grateful for the glorious changing of the leaves we experience in New England and I’m so glad to live here where I get to exalt in the full range of seasonal beauty.
• I’m grateful that after years of running behind James in our ongoing cribbage tally, I’ve finally come from behind, over taken him, and am now in the lead! Wahoo!
• I’m grateful my husband’s podcast is growing in listenership and is helpful to folks. I love seeing how doing it makes him thrive. I’m grateful too that his prison ministry is about to start again after a huge hiatus for the pandemic.
• I’m grateful to be trying my hand at “grid journaling.” (coming soon on the blog)
• I’m grateful I started this occasional Grace Notes feature on this blog– wow, now there are 43 of them and counting. I’m also grateful my husband and I share gratitude out loud to each other the last thing we do every night before sleeping. Being constantly flooded with gratitude feels great!
• I’m grateful for apple turnovers, fleece blankets, good books, zinnias, cinnamon, ferries, ceramic vases I’ve made, new hiking boots, my sweet red car that has 97000 miles on it and still looks new, vibrant sunsets, a trip to the art store in Portland, and a new cutting board from Maine Arts and Crafts, inspiration, energy, every good night’s sleep, bakery bread, sparkling dewy sunrise light through my office/studio window (photo below), my glasses and sunglasses, stainless steel straws, poached eggs on avocado toast, audio books, watercolor crayons, our white Adirondack chairs on the front porch, joy, integrity and stability.
• I’m grateful for each and everyone of you blog readers, for without you, I wouldn’t collect, accrue, and document all this good. Thank you for subscribing to this blog, opening it, reading it, sharing it, and commenting on it. Each one of you is cherished and valued. I am grateful for each and everyone of you and for all the good you amplify in the world.

Put some of your own grace notes in the comments!